DGS

The feedback I got from all of you here helped me a great deal in having a frank discussion with our committee chair. After a little back and forth, we seem to be in general agreement about who does and does not need to be registered, encouraging merit badge councelors to register themselves with council, and that this absolutely has to be dealt with before recharter. Perhaps most importantly, I stressed that I understood that this was really his domain, but that I felt it absolutely needed to have a resolution and that I was there to support these changes. He is now actively engaged in discussing this with our registered leaders, and I feel that at least for now I can take a step back and monitor progress rather than leading the charge. Thank you all again for your input!

You're still doing better than us, were at 80 without Boys Life!

First and foremost, thank you for all the welcomes! I'm pretty happy to have found this board and really appreciate all of the great replies, and will head over to the new to the forum board soon. I agree that this isn't really a SM issue, but with re-charter fast approaching I'm hoping I can add something to the conversation that might get us to a resolution. And I'd like to free up my budget a little for things that will benefit the boys. Yes, our council charges $80. I would love to tell you what they do with that 50ish dollars, but I doubt that information exists. I'm generally against asking leaders to pay their fee. I probably wouldn't be so hesitant if it was $30, but I feel like asking them to fork over $80 to provide their volunteer services to the Troop is a bit much. I agree with some of the sentiments on both sides of this argument, and I do think that if we decide a leader does not need to be registered they can pay the fee and we will register them if they wish. It seems like there is a pretty solid consensus here that you all are keeping your registered leaders to a minimum.........and you're paying $50 less per leader! I'm 100% with CherokeeScouter on the YPT, and we require anyone who comes on a campout to complete it and will continue to do so. I have found that even non-registered volunteers participating in Troop events have some insurance coverage. What I read addressed mainly auto liability, and whether you are registered or not your own auto policy is the primary coverage. After a registered leader's auto coverage is exhausted, it goes to the BSA policy. Non-registered volunteers will have to use any other personal liability insurance, such as homeowner's, before the BSA insurance will kick in. I believe our council also waives the fee for merit badge councilors. We have a number of them on our roster, it seems like we should be sending anyone who is a MB to the council to register themselves. I presume they won't necessarily be registered with our troop, but will be considered registered leaders? Are you able to keep them on your charter and not pay because they are MB councilors? If we can get the fee waived for them, it might just about eliminate this issue all together! Thanks for all the great info!

I'm a new Scoutmaster in a well established Troop. We are fortunate to have many adult volunteers who have stayed with the troop long after their sons have moved on. Past practice has been to include all of these volunteers on our charter, as well as any boys who have aged out and have any involvement with the troop. We've come to a point where we are chartering almost as many adult volunteers as we are scouts (about 30). At $80 per person, this is having a dramatic impact on our budget. Some of the volunteers are very active, and come to most meetings and many campouts. Others come to a meeting here and there and maybe a campout at best. Many parents are questioning whether it is necessary to charter all of these volunteers. Im trying to come up with a criteria for who should and shouldnt be chartered, but info on this topic seems scarce. There do seem to be provisions for nonregistered volunteers, but I cant seem to find anything that explains who can be a nonregistered volunteer. Im trying to figure out: -Who is required to be chartered (outside of the required positions)? -What is the difference between a registered and nonregistered leader? -What benefits do registered leaders receive? Finally, I would be interested to hear how other troops decide who to register. Thanks for any advice you can offer!